“In homing in on the cosier parts of the Britain of yesteryear, it is easy to ignore the horrors that have gone. Straight white men are especially vulnerable to this sort of amnesia. Such forgetfulness can be partly blamed on a dominant national press that tends to report the grotesque exceptions not the blander rule. But politicians have connived in this.”Read more.

“crime overall has dropped by 45% since its peak in 1995 […] Looking more carefully, the big fall in brutality has been in domestic violence, which has dropped by a staggering 70%. This sort of upbeat, wonkish analysis enrages those who insist that, for ordinary people, Britain is a more frightening place than it once was, whatever official statistics might say.”Read more.

All being well, New Escapologist Issue 3 will be printed and shipped next week. It’s a hundred-page monster featuring our best writing to date. If you’ve not pre-ordered, you can do so here.